As well as larger, purpose built student accommodation blocks, Coventry University has a number of smaller houses that are scattered across the city. Internet access had previously been supplied via ADSL broadband, which was proving to be inadequate in terms of bandwidth and was the cause of many complaints from students. It was therefore necessary to replace this with an alternative technology that would offer greater bandwidth and also more control over the network.

FTL proposed replacing the current ADSL links with a licence exempt wireless network sup- porting the latest 802.11a/b/g/n standards with data rates between 100-300Mbps. Where possible redundancy was built in so that in the event of a problem on one path then an alternative route could be used to maintain service. The network was designed and installed by Fibre Technologies who are also retained to maintain the equipment.

Coventry University now has the ability to offer high-bandwidth internet access, at a minimum of 20Mbps, to all of the remote student accommodation sites and the flexibility to add new sites and additional bandwidth rapidly as requirements demand. This is of particular importance to their students who need high speed internet access to aid their studies. The IT department also has visibility over the network and can proactively monitor the bandwidth usage of all sites. The network is now in its 3rd year of operation, and there has been over 99.9% uptime.

Fibre Technologies has assisted Coventry University for many years and can always be depended on to propose the most appropriate solutions. They offer a wide range of products together with first class support.